Mother Nature scoffed at human efforts
to get the downhill underway.
Didier Cuche did what
he always does to
land on the podium in
the super G.
“It’s a big, big disappointment because the effort that
went on to put this race together, it was absolutely perfect,” said U.S. coach Sasha Rearick. “The work this
race crew and events department did, it almost makes
you want to cry.”
Rearick said the winds up top were blowing uphill, downhill and every which way. “If an athlete were to catch an
uphill gust, that’s the danger factor,” he said. “We like
to run in wind; it’s not a problem, it’s an outdoor sport,
but safety is an important thing. Uphill gusts on a major
jump is dangerous.”
The jury held off as long as it could, waiting for the winds
to diminish. They didn’t. The Birds of Prey downhill was
scrapped and eventually rescheduled for March 11 at
Kvitfjell, Norway. It was the first time Beaver Creek had
lost a downhill event.
Super G, Dec. 4
As with the first super G of the season at Lake Louise,
the Birds of Prey SG saw a surprise winner. At Lake Lou-
ise the race went to Swiss Tobias Gruenenfelder, a first-
time winner at age 33. At Beaver Creek it went to Aus-
trian Georg Streitberger, a second-time winner at age
29. And, again, there was disappointment for the fans in
the stands.
“It is a difficult course and you have to ski well,” said
Streitberger. “Sometimes, you have to ski with the brain,
put on the brakes a little bit. It’s difficult.”
Putting on the brakes was the last thing on the minds
of the American racers, who knew the stands were full
of friends and family. A course quirk (set by Austrian Andreas Evers) led racers quickly to the brink of Screech
Owl, then required a hard right. The first four U.S. skiers
to charge into this section failed to make the right (
left-footer) as they went airborne over the crest and could
not get an edge into the snow. “Yeah, I’d call it a trap,”
said Marco Sullivan, the second of the four. “It’s our fault
to not recognize that. We knew it was going to be a big
turn, but didn’t really realize you get kicked coming out
of it.”
Bode Miller was the first to exit. Then Sullivan, Andrew
Weibrecht and Ted Ligety went out in quick succession,
Aksel Lund Svindal and Andrew
Weibrecht wait out the initially
delayed DH.
